Albert Edward William Miles, known to all as Loma, was still working on his book on the origins of the Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC), and writing letters to newspapers about the army's duty of care to its soldiers in Iraq, at the time of his death, aged 95. He was an unassuming giant of dental science whose work has influenced a wide variety of disciplines.

As professor of dental surgery and pathology at the London hospital medical college dental school (1950-76), he recognised the value of interdisciplinary research and attracted zoologists, physicists, pathologists, geneticists, dentists and epidemiologists to his department. His innovative research covered areas such as the variations and diseases of the teeth of animals and humans, palaeo-osteological research on Anglo-Saxons, the structural and chemical organisation of teeth, and the study of enameloid formation in fish. He invented the Miles method of assessing age from tooth wear in the 1960s, still in use today.

Loma co-edited Colyer's Variations and Diseases of the Teeth of Animals and the magnificent volumes on the Structural and Chemical Organisation of Teeth. He was executive editor of the Archives of Oral Biology for 20 years and scientific editor of the British Dental Journal (1947-51). He was honorary curator of the odontological collection of the Royal College of Surgeons from 1955 to 1989.

At the London hospital, Loma was a pillar of scientific rigour and a beacon for young researchers at a time when there was relatively little good research on dental subjects. He was unstinting with his time and advice and a loved teacher and friend to his co-workers, including his laboratory technicians. He created opportunities for his researchers in a quiet, unheralded way and was not concerned with empire-building.

From the 1980s, Loma carried out research with his long-term partner Diana on the remains of 416 individuals exhumed from the chapel and burial mound on the Isle of Ensay in the Outer Hebrides. They spent many happy summers together on the isolated island, with no running water or electricity.

He valued his close relationships with some remarkable people such as JZ Young, Sir Wilfred Fish and Alex Comfort, the physiologist and poet. He also valued his friendships with locals, neighbours and their children, and will be sadly missed by all of them.

Loma was a lifelong socialist, humanitarian and Guardian reader, vociferous in his opposition to the Iraq war. Most of his estate has gone to medical benevolent funds and armed forces charities. His book on the RAMC will be completed in his memory by his friends.